Wednesday, July 16, 2003

I was shopping at Wild Oats- one of those hoity-toity grocers where everything seems to be priced 200% higher than at the usual chain grocers, with a heavy emphasis on organic products.

I always get a chuckle out of packaged organic foods. There may not have been any pesticide used, but there is often no shortage of sodium or fat in these packaged goodies.

I got the biggest guffaw out of Paul Newman's line of snacks. The Newmans make a big deal on their packaging about being organic and giving the profits to their favorite 'progressive' causes.

That wasn't the gag. The gag was seeing the Newman Oreo equivalent on the shelf. Newman-O's have that naughty saturated fat, but no word on that bad, evil, trans-fat.

Will the zealot be pursuing Newman-O's with the same rigor? I doubt it.

Don't get me wrong. I actually like seeing Newman's products on the shelf. The difference between a capitalist and an authoritarian such as Stephen Joseph is this: A capitalist enjoys seeing more choices in the marketplace, not less, and even enjoys seeing products such as Newman's, that have it built in to support causes I do not necessarily support. The authoritarian will actively seek to eliminate marketplace choices, preventing the capitalist from enjoying the freedom the capitalist will grant the authoritarian.